Gemstots

  Of everything I thought the ILFA cohorts of 2015 would share, sad news was definitely not on that list. I imagined getting calls of Timbo becoming President of Sierra Leone, of Yomi becoming a Professor at Law and Senator in Nigeria. I fantasized about vacations around Africa, finally having people to say hello to, as I tour the continent. Botswana may not have been on my list but Ghana was, and with Ghana I’d have seen you and Naa. A local airline had a BOGOF promo to Ghana just on Sunday. A colleague asked if I had ever been to Ghana and I said no, thinking it’s about time I visited this neighboring country now that I have two ILFA colleagues there. Of everything we share with each other on the group, I’m sure I speak for all if I say no one anticipated such news as this. Mrs. Edwin Coe - how you made the best of that Firm. “My boss is looking forward to some Nigerian headgear” you had said. For your boss I had my head wrapped for the Gala. I watched you dance

With Multichoice, MTN, and Standard Bank owning significant shares of the Nigerian market in various sectors of the economy, the acquisition of a 63.5% stake in Dangote Flour Mills by Tiger Brands in 2012 appeared to be the ownership of a major Nigerian entity by yet another South African Company or was it? Fast forward to 2015, Tiger Brands appears to be saying ‘here, you can have your company back for nothing’, giving up its entire 65.7% stake in the company for a nominal consideration of $1 back to Dangote. There has to be a catch somewhere or this is just a massive loss. What do the shareholders of Tiger brands in South Africa have to say about the wasted investment? Who bears this loss? Tiger Brands is not only giving up its entire stake for a nominal consideration, the company is also writing off shareholder loans and assuming specific debts of the company. It’s  taking a while for me to wrap my head around this. The announcement on the JSE implies that all of this is i